Yasiel Puig's wild ride hits October

Oct. 2, 2013
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Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig is known for celebrating his prodigious on-field accomplishments, which were many in 2013: a .319 batting average, 19 home runs and 42 RBI in 104 games. / Matt Kartozian, USA TODAY Sports

by Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

by Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

As the Los Angeles Dodgers enter the playoffs without two of their regular outfielders, the rookie who sparked their remarkable turnaround with his energetic and sometimes-reckless play makes it clear he has no intention of taming his style in the postseason.

"All of us Cuban players are aggressive," right fielder Yasiel Puig told USA TODAY Sports, "and I like aggressiveness on the field."

Get ready for a bumpy ride on the Wild Horse.

The absence of outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, both sidelined by ankle injuries, puts more of the onus on Puig to help the Dodgers reach their first World Series since 1988. It's a spot the attention-loving Cuban defector welcomes, but it comes with high risk.

Puig's brilliant rookie season was marked by repeated instances of excessive exuberance, whether airmailing throws over the cutoff man, making ill-advised attempts at taking an extra base or scaring the daylights out of teammates in madcap dives for pop-ups.

Such youthful mistakes might be costly but tolerable in a 162-game season. In the postseason, they can mean the difference between advancing and forever pondering what if.

"It's a double-edged sword," San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford said. "He'll help you, probably a decent amount of the time, but you never know. He could hurt you in a big situation."

The Dodgers will take their chances, beginning with their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, which opens Thursday at Turner Field.

Puig foresees this journey ending in a fashion similar to their NL West title run, which culminated in his first champagne shower, an experience he's determined to repeat.

"It was beautiful and fun to share that with my teammates," he said. "There will be another one in the World Series."

Even with the loss of Kemp and Ethier, who might be available to pinch-hit, the Dodgers go in as strong candidates to win the pennant after taking the NL West by 11 games and going 62-28 in their last 90 games.

Puig's all-out style, abundant confidence and enthusiasm - along with his unsurpassed combination of skills - proved the perfect tonic for an L.A. team beset by injuries, falling well short of the expectations raised by its $216million opening-day payroll and languishing in last place at 23-32 when he arrived June 3.

Puig, 22, evoked memories of Joe DiMaggio by banging out 44 hits in his debut month, the second-highest total ever after the Yankee Clipper's 48 in May1936.

His style of play? That, perhaps, is unprecedented.

While much is made of Cuban players assimilating to what's perceived to be a more controlled game in the major leagues, Puig, countryman Yoenis Cespedes says, is in his own league even on his native island.

"They're not all that way," said Cespedes, the Oakland Athletics' second-year outfielder. "He's that way.

"You know Puig, you know me, Alexei Ramirez, Kendrys (Morales). Who else do you see play with that kind of craziness? Nobody. Just him. Nobody else plays that crazily. Baseball there is played aggressively. But not like that."

That was what the Dodgers needed back in the early summer.

Once shortstop Hanley Ramirez returned from the disabled list in early June, joining a lineup with Puig and run producer Adrian Gonzalez, the Dodgers finally became the juggernaut they were predicted to be.

At one point after Puig joined them, the Dodgers went 42-8. Their record with him in the lineup was 66-38.

His 104-game rookie campaign produced a .319 average, 19 homers and a .925 on-base plus slugging.

Still, his contributions came with plenty of rough edges, enough to irritate opponents and - sometimes - teammates. Manager Don Mattingly, whose job was on the line until the Dodgers' turnaround, fined Puig for arriving late for an August game in Miami, then yanked him during a game a week later for lack of focus.

Trying skipper's patience

Mattingly said managing Puig has been a constant learning experience, with the outfielder sometimes making progress in the nuances of the game and other times regressing.

The biggest lesson for Mattingly?

Patience.

"He's quite a player," Mattingly said. "Has a huge motor and a ton of energy, a ton of excitement with the way he plays. But we have to be patient, keep teaching and take the good with the bad."

Opponents have been less forgiving. Puig's antics, including frequent bat flips and sliding into home after a walk-off homer, drew the ire of Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero and led to a verbal exchange with Giants closer Sergio Romo.

"I think he rubs people the wrong way in his ... I'm not going to call it arrogance, but an exuberance of confidence," San Diego Padres closer Huston Street said. "But there are a lot of players like that who annoy other teams, and then you watch them walk in their dugout and everybody's high-fiving them, giving them hugs. He seems well received on his side of things."

Teammates stand by him

Teammates do indeed stand up for Puig, even if at times they have to pull him aside. Gonzalez and third baseman Juan Uribe typically handle those chores.

Gonzalez said the news media tend to focus on Puig's foibles, showing a highlight of him missing a cutoff man and not bothering to mention he often hits him. Puig's go-for-broke style stems from his confidence in his abilities, Gonzalez said, adding it would be foolish to curtail that just because the team is in the playoffs.

"We've seen a lot of veterans make mistakes in the playoffs. We're not going to worry about that and take away the way he plays," Gonzalez said. "We've won 80% (actually 65) of the games since he arrived, so why would we change anything?"

Of greater concern might be his finish. Puig batted .163 over his final 50 plate appearances, though he hit three homers in that span, and has ample rest before the playoff opener.

Still, the public eye might focus more on how he does things, rather than what he does, in the postseason. The external reaction figures to differ from that of the Dodgers.

Outfielder Skip Schumaker, who figures to replace Kemp in center, said he learned how passionate and demonstrative many Cuban players are when he traveled to the island with the U.S. team for an Olympic qualifying tournament in 2006.

Puig clearly fits in that mold.

"You see this kind of wild craziness on the field every now and then, but he really wants to win, and that gets lost in all of this," Schumaker said. "You don't want to take away the energy and aggressiveness he brings and what he learned in Cuba."